


Essence

by Yotsubadancesintherain5



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, One Shot, Pre-Episode: s01e18 Agony of a Witch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29702625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yotsubadancesintherain5/pseuds/Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: Luz wants to know what the flora on the Boiling Isles mean and Eda is no help.
Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49
Collections: /r/FanFiction Prompt Challenge #22 / February 2021, All things Disney





	Essence

It started when Luz made a plant glyph to practice her magic and wondered if the vines and flowers that sprang forth from the glyph had any deeper meaning.

“It means that you successfully made a plant glyph,” Eda said when Luz asked. She was in the middle of making dinner and was wrangling a squirming pear-like fruit that had tons of little soft needles over its skin. Luz’s inquiry was almost swallowed up by her excitement at eating this.

“No, but what do they _mean?_ ” Luz asked again, her hands in fists and her smile wide and her eyes overflowing with curiosity.

Luz didn’t get an answer because the pear-like fruit began shooting its needles and even if they were soft they were still dangerous if they got nearby eyes.

The conversation was forgotten in lieu of chaos and magic, everything that made life on these isles so exhilarating.

-

Luz didn’t bring it up again until one day when they went into town with Eda’s wares and Luz spotted a flower pinned against the lapel of a witch’s coat.

It was shaped like a petunia, but it was purple and dotted with pink circles and there were teeth in the middle, its mouth at the very center. It tried to eat a broken music box when the witch perused Eda’s items.

“No, no,” Luz cried out and she grabbed the music box, taking it out of reach from the flower. The witch said nothing, and was ultimately not interested in any wares and walked away.

Eda was too busy setting up shop to notice. Luz wryly thought that Eda was already used to her exclamations.

She placed the music box back down and looked at Eda. Eda was preoccupied with trying to hook a baby mobile to a fishing pole.

“Eda,” Luz said loudly and Eda turned her head, a lazy smirk on her face.

“What, Luz?” she tried her task again and pricked her finger on the hook. She hissed in pain.

“I just saw a flower that was purple with pink spots and it has _teeth_. What does it mean?”

“If you’re not careful it’s gonna eat anything it can seek its teeth into.” Eda gave up on her plan and was examining a mug that had dancing gnomes painted on it; her eyebrows were knitted with confusion.

“No, no – I mean at home flowers have meaning,” Luz said. She felt like she was explaining this badly because Eda didn’t say anything. “Can you get me a book on flower language so that I can show you?”

“Sure, sure, kid, whatever.” Eda threw the mug over her shoulder and picked up the pieces to place them on a kitschy plate that was decorated with triangles. “If I remember.”

-

It took a few days for Eda to find such a book. In the mean time Luz tried to get answers about the flowers on the Boiling Isles.

At first she figured that Eda probably just didn’t know flower language. She was secretly glad of this because it could be something they would learn together.

But when Luz asked Willow she didn’t know either. Gus had no answers but was eager to learn about human flora so Luz promised to let him borrow the book later.

Even Amity didn’t know anything.

Luz finally figured that if most of the flora on the Boiling Isles were dangerous then it was better to categorize them based on their danger level. Or perhaps it simply wasn’t a facet of sentimentality here.

Luz instead let her excitement turn into getting that book.

Eventually, when Luz was at the Owl House practicing her glyphs and King by her side on the couch, Eda came back from the human world and gave Luz a weathered blue book. In faded gold lettering its title boasted that it was a complete encyclopedia on the language of flowers.

“Thanks, Eda,” Luz squealed. She immediately opened up the book, flipping past the table of contents and the acknowledgements page. She came to a stop at the first flower.

“See, Eda?” Luz asked, her finger on a picture of a buttercup. “Humility, neatness, childish. You can give them to people who need joy.”

“It’d be a joy to eat it,” King piped up. He eyed the picture of the yellow flowers hungrily.

“ _No!_ ” Luz cried out, and she reached to hold King in a tight hug. It was half an excuse to hug him.

“What?” King managed to squeak out. Eda laughed at him.

Luz let go of him and thought for a moment. “Maybe they’d be okay for a demon to eat.”

But if for whatever reason King came across buttercups Luz wouldn’t take the risk and would stop him. She picked up the book again.

“Sunflowers,” Luz said, showing off the picture of the field of the bright flowers. “Adoration, loyalty, longevity. You can eat their seeds.”

She flipped through the pages and stopped at one.

“Rose,” she said with an exaggerated dreamy sigh, “Love and romance for your sweetheart.”

Eda was laughing and Luz grinned at the fact that she managed to get a laugh out of Eda.

“Carnations. Gratitude, luck, admiration, usually given on Mother’s Day – “

Luz’s voice suddenly caught in her throat. She blinked as her eyes watered for just a moment.

It was quiet. King moved to touch Luz’s hand, and he looked up at her in concern.

Eda broke the silence.

“I’ll be back.”

She reached out to ruffle Luz’s hair and left. Luz tilted her head at Eda leaving unexpectedly and she swallowed down her homesick feeling. She went back to her book, deliberately avoiding any mention of carnations or motherhood.

For a while the only sound was Luz reading out the language of flowers to King, answering his questions and laughing with him, until Eda finally came back.

In her hands she held a flower. It looked like a sunflower, except it was mixture of green and orange and it was quite small. The center of it was a pale blue.

“Dawn stickweed,” Eda said as she tucked the flower behind Luz’s ear. “It means that I’m incredibly proud of my apprentice.”

Luz’s heart was overflowing and she set the book aside to fling herself at Eda for a hug. Eda still didn’t seem used to such affection but she caught on quickly, one hand resting at Luz’s back and the other on her head.

Luz made a startled noise when King wrapped his arms around her legs, and she broke out of the embrace to pick him up, making affectionate noises at him. Eda initiated the group hug this time.

**Author's Note:**

> I participated in a prompt month where the language of flowers could be a theme. I always use flower symbolism when I can in fics so this was perfect for me.


End file.
